Barclays: Don’t Worry, Banks Are a Buy

It has been an ugly stretch for big banks, with their stock prices getting whacked by fears of an economic soft patch (which we think sounds like a toilet paper brand), a double dip in the housing market and uncertainty about new government regulations.

The folks at Barclays, though, think the worries are overdone. Banks won’t — as many investors expect — suffer many months of increasing losses on the loans they issue, Barclays writes. Barclays keeps its overweight recommendations on Citigroup and Bank of America, and market weight ratings on J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo.